Download Bathetic's Hits of Past Cassettes Compilation

Bathetic is a label that specializes in worn, ambient, dusty, moody lo-fi. Most of it comes out on cassette, though they release vinyl as well, and all of it feels homemade and honest. Because of the nature of the cassette format, a lot of this stuff goes out of print pretty quickly, which is a pity, because there are so many weird gems in Bathetic's catalog. Luckily, though, label head Jon Hency decided to go back through the archives and create a mix of favorites from the label's storied past. There's some dark folk from King Dude, muffled pop from Cough Cool, sludgy heartbreak from the extremely overlooked Haunted Houses and gorgeous ambient from William Cody Watson. The collection spans a lot of disparate sounds, but taken together, it feels like a dusty mood piece: troubled an warm, it's a window into a whole lot of emotionally naked music, and it's often very beautiful.